It was all broad smiles and an oversized check under a tent Tuesday afternoon at Woodburn Cemetery.

Warren County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon and Linda Dickerson, chairwoman of the Warren County Cemetery Board, accepted a $14,100 check from the Governor’s Office for Local Development for cemetery preservation in Warren County.

Of that, $5,700 is allotted for Woodburn Cemetery, which also got matching money from community chili and spaghetti fundraisers, Dickerson said.

The refined 4-acre cemetery has about 1,700 headstones, with its oldest burial recorded in 1854, she said.

&#8220This has been chosen as the model project for the state,” Dickerson said.

Rural cemeteries, like Woodburn, were put on a state endangered list earlier this year. Citizens can protect the historic resources by clearing weeds, dead trees and repairing monuments, according to Dickerson.

The check represents &#8220a lot of sweat equity” by virtue of volunteers, said Rep. Jim DeCesare, R-Bowling Green, who attended the ceremony, along with House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green.

Warren’s cemetery board formed three years ago and restoring the thousands of cemeteries and family burial plots in Warren County is an ongoing effort, said Dickerson, who plans to consult boards statewide so other deserving parties can start receiving checks.

&#8220The counties that have a county cemetery board have first priority” for funding, she said.

Tuesday under the tent, Dickerson received a silver President’s Volunteer Service Award for logging more than 500 cemetery preservation hours. Bowling Green residents Ben Runner Jr., Tyler Reeder and Mary Bokkon received bronze service awards for logging more than 100 hours.

Runner said the cemetery he restored was abandoned, with about 100 visible headstones. Now, about 250 to 300 headstones are visible.

&#8220I keep finding them,” Runner said. &#8220It’s a larger cemetery than I thought at first.”

Runner was assisted by 13-year-old Tyler Reeder, who said preservation is &#8220mostly helping people that no one else cares about or forgot.”

Buchanon summarized the efforts of local cemetery cleaners.

&#8220Small communities work together as a tight-knit group,” he said.

DeCesare said about $10 million in community economic growth grants was set aside in the last budget so taxpayers in smaller communities, like Woodburn, can reap some of the same benefits as larger metropolitan areas.

Tuesday’s cemetery ceremony coincided with the ceremonial signing of House Bill 256 in Frankfort earlier in the day, which is &#8220the bill that got started because of Jeramie Vance,” DeCesare said.

Richards and DeCesare used the occasion to publicly thank Vance, a Woodburn Volunteer Fire Department firefighter, who was present at the cemetery Tuesday.

Vance said he fractured a bone in his neck last September, which caused a four-month layoff that ultimately cost him his job. He said he’s now able to work again, albeit for a new employer.

The bill prohibits employers from terminating volunteer firefighters who are absent from work because of line-of-duty injuries.

&#8220It passed unanimously in the house and the senate,” Vance said.